September 6, 2012

"You don't want the sport turning into a circus where, you know, doubles walk in with barely any training under their belt and they are running able-bod (able-bodied) qualification times."Is Oscar Pistorius a hypocrite?

Hahaha, I thought it would have been funny if some guy on, like, fifteen foot tall stilts qualified for the Olympics and beat all the able-bods by walking a leisurely pace. And why not? We're letting augmented humanoids compete against regular humans. Where do we draw the line? Right below the knee if you ask me.

And let's not forget that man--sorry, hermaphrodite--who ran against women this year. I know what I saw. That was a dude in a sports bra running against women. The Olympics has turned into a progressive farce. Things like gender and handicap are bourgeois concepts. So is this idea of "species." Can't wait for chimpanzees to qualify for the uneven bars and giraffes for the 1,500m!

Pistorius opened a can of worms. The first thing I thought of was the similarity of his situation to gay marriage. They both consist in trying to make a thing what it isn't, never was, and never will be, ignoring the fact that solutions exist that don't fracture the traditional structure. But of course, fracturing the traditional structure is what it's all about.

I was listening to the BBC World early this morning (~2:30AM EDT) and the announcer who reported on this story just couldn't get over himself that he could say "victorious Pistorious" and it rhymed! He used the phrase repeatedly.

No. Pistorias was 6ft 1in with full legs and he is the same height with the running blades. His Brazilian competitor is 5ft 11in with full legs. but with his blades he is 6ft 1in which is also the maximum height allowed by the Paralympic governing authority. If the Brazilian is allowed to increase his height with the blades, the everyone will go to the maximum allowed and personal achievement will be essentially nullified in this group of elite athletes making a mockery of the very games intended to end mockery. There should be no equipment advantages, only equipment to restore a modicum of normalcy to the damaged body.

From our July 17 thread...Marshal said... I am skeptical [Pistorius] doesn't get an advantage. He can control his leg length for starters. 7/17/12 11:43 AM

leslyn said... No, he really can't. The prosthesis has to be proportional to his body and within his normal experience. Think of a guy on stilts at the fair trying to run a 400-yard dash. 7/17/12 11:51 AM

I just wanted to highlight the obvious: that our lefty trolls have no idea what they're talking about. For some reason it doesn't bother them to make idiotic assertions devoid of evidence.

Must be auditioning for Baghdad Debbie's job. Her credibility is just about used up, so Democrats will need the new mouthpiece.

Watch the guy in the lane 5. Slow off the line, and he takes a while to find his stride, but when he locks in, he moves (literally) like a gazelle, and passes the rest of the field like they're standing still.

They're going to have to take a NASCAR approach to approved prosthetics, probably within the next four years.

Of course Pistorius is a hypocrite. He's quite happy to use technology to his advantage when he wants to compete in the traditional Olympics, even though he's not at risk for lower leg and foot injuries like the other runners.

But when someone else competes WITHIN THE PARALYMPIC RULES and beats him, when he too could have used longer prostheses, his lack of sportsmanship comes out.

I take you back to the original discussion on allowing this to begin with, and why its emotional and not logical critical thinking that arrived at the decision.

Besides the fact that of course he's a hypocrit..he was one for asking for special treatment in the first place, as he knows full well what the advantage is, and that he was getting special treatment. But, he's also one, because now that he slipped by, he'd like to slam the door shut behind him.

Please, enough with the emotional decision making and a little more critical thinking and problem solving using the facts and not projecting all the lost kittens in the world into every situation.

Tyrone Slothrop said... "Pistorius opened a can of worms. The first thing I thought of was the similarity of his situation to gay marriage. "

Exactly +6.66E66 Those fucking carpet munchers and peter puffers have taken over your mind. It's time for a visit to the Markus Bachmann clinic for deprogramming, Tyrone, before it's too late and you start splashing children in public fountains.

Exactly +6.66E66 Those fucking carpet munchers and peter puffers have taken over your mind. It's time for a visit to the Markus Bachmann clinic for deprogramming, Tyrone, before it's too late and you start splashing children in public fountains.

BTW, the claim that Pistorius's height is 6-1 on "real" legs is absurd since his "real" legs were amputated as a child and were never normal. The fact is we have no idea what Pistorius's natural height should be. Neither do we know what race times he would have had he been born and still had fully functional natural legs. Absent that, to assert with certainty that they artificial legs give no advantage is absurd.

Indigo Red, that's complete bullshit and you know it. You are talking about averages, not exact measurements. Some people have relatively long torsos, others relatively long legs. I knew a man with an enormous head, way out-of-proportion from his body. So, again, to say that you can "know" what the precise height should be of a man legless since his preteens is completely absurd. Hence there is a range.